Chapter 42
amy
‘This was such a fantastic idea,’ Kate said, leaning on the rail and gazing out across the lake. ‘It’s turned into the perfect evening. I’m so glad I let you talk me into it.’
‘Don’t jinx it,’ Amy said.
The last rays of sunset slowly faded behind the Adirondack mountains. As darkness fell, the music on the boat shifted up a notch, the buzz of excitement and chatter among the students increasing with it.
‘I shouldn’t have got into such a flap about the storm,’ Kate said.
Amy could see Iris talking to Mac in the stern of the boat. Even from this far away, his expression was grim. She itched to know what her sister was saying.
Kate touched Amy’s bare shoulder, and she jumped. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Of course.’
‘You don’t seem yourself.’
Amy straightened her necklace, subtly moving her arm away from Kate’s hand. ‘It’s been a long week,’ she said.
‘You know you can trust me,’ Kate said.
Kate had been her best friend since they were four years old.
She understood her in ways that even Iris didn’t; she’d had a ringside seat to Amy’s dysfunctional childhood and borne witness to Helen’s blatant favouritism towards Iris.
It’d been Kate who’d helped Amy find the self-belief to trust Mac when she’d been an insecure teenager, convinced the most popular boy in school couldn’t possibly be interested in her; Kate to whom she’d turned when the long nights and exhausting days with Nicky and Finn as babies had almost pulled her under.
‘If you saw your husband kissing another woman,’ Amy said suddenly, ‘what would you do?’
Kate’s eyes widened. She glanced reflexively at Mac and Iris, still deep in conversation together at the stern.
‘Not Iris,’ Amy said. ‘Of course not Iris.’
‘I suppose it would depend,’ Kate said carefully.
‘Would you take it at face value?’ Amy asked. ‘Would you think, it’s just a kiss? Or would you assume it was something more – or, at least, the beginning of something more?’
‘I think,’ Kate said, ‘I think I’d want to be absolutely sure of my facts before I did anything.’
‘Maybe the kiss was nothing, and then me asking about it makes it something. And what if—’
‘I wouldn’t talk to him,’ Kate said. ‘I’d talk to her.’
‘You think that’ll make a difference?’ Amy said. ‘You think a woman who kisses a married man cares about doing the right thing?’
Kate’s eyes widened. ‘You know who the woman is?’
Amy couldn’t help it; she looked along the boat, her eyes fastening on the group gathered near the music deck, on her.
Kate followed her gaze. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ she said.
A sudden shout went up.
‘The lights! Look at the lights!’
At first, Amy didn’t know what they meant. And then she saw it: lights all around the lake going out, in ones and twos, and then suddenly, all at once, great blocks of street lamps and house lights blinking out, plunging the lakeside into darkness.
‘The transformer must’ve gone because of the storm,’ Kate said.
Mac was already making his way down the side of the boat towards them, one arm lightly outstretched against the roof of the cabin for balance.
‘Just had a text from one of my guys up near the foundry,’ he said.
‘A tree’s come down on the Weidemann transformer.
Green Mountain Power is out there, but they reckon it’ll take the rest of the night to get it up and running again. ’
The entire lake was now in darkness. Amy realised how much ambient light the street lamps and dwellings cast; without them, it was impossible to know how far they were from the shore.
Mac was making his way towards the crew member stationed in the bow.
Amy realised the man wouldn’t be able to see more than thirty feet from the Lady now the shore lights were out.
She hoped the same thought hadn’t occurred to Kate; if there was any debris in the lake, if a small craft had become unmoored in the storm, the lookout wouldn’t be able to see it until it was too late.
The brief excitement occasioned by the power cut abated.
A stiff night breeze was beginning to ruffle the surface of the lake, chilling bare shoulders, and most of the students went inside the large cabin that ran down three-quarters of the boat.
Music spilled from the open windows. The hum of chatter was loud and peppered with laughter, and Amy let the stress of organising the event fade, feeling the satisfying high of everyone enjoying themselves.
‘It’s getting cold,’ Kate said, rubbing her upper arms.
‘We should go in,’ Amy said. ‘Keep an eye.’
The boat rolled gently beneath their feet as they headed along the deck. They found Maggie and Nicky sitting with Rose on a built-in seat at the top of the stairs near the stern.
‘You coming inside?’ Amy said.
‘Not right now,’ Nicky said.
Kate brushed Maggie’s shoulder. ‘Don’t catch chill, honey.’
Inside, the warm fug of bodies pressed close thickened the air. The music was loud; Kate had to shout to be heard. ‘Not sure Chad did a very thorough job,’ she said, gesturing to the empty beer bottles on a nearby table.
‘They’re eighteen,’ Amy said. ‘Old enough to die for their country. I think we can let a few bottles of IPA go.’
She spotted Iris on the other side of the cabin, talking to Jenna Lincoln, and pushed through the throng towards her. Sweat trickled between her breasts, and she shoved her hair out of her eyes with clammy hands. She was equal parts nervous and spoiling for the fight.
She tapped Iris on the shoulder. ‘Can you have a word with Finn?’
‘What about?’
‘Literally anything. It doesn’t matter,’ Amy said.
Iris hesitated, and then understood and nodded.
Amy waited near the galley kitchen as Iris cornered her son in conversation, leaving Ashley briefly isolated and alone.
And then she grabbed hold of the girl’s wrist and bundled her through the kitchen, up a short flight of steps, and out onto the deck.